Abstract

A method of managing the number of base station engaged in soft hand-off in a mobile communication system (fig. 3). The method involves manipulating a subscriber (200) based directional antenna (120) so as to control the number of base transceiver stations (130), pilot channels, beacon signals or other signals detected to be used in soft hand-off processing. The adaptive antennas (220) are modified to manage the number of active set members, such as by manipulating direction, beamwidth, or other antenna parameters.